Tag Archives: sausage

Food

Guilt-free Street Food ~ Sidewalk Cart Sausage & Peppers Hero

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Here I go again…..abandoning my blog! Life needs to S-L-O-W down.

I wanted to pop in and share a healthy recipe that I discovered in Shape Magazine {September 2012}.

Rocco Dispirito’s take on healthifying Italian favorites ~ this one caught my attention….

: Sausage and Peppers:

A typical sausage and pepper hero from a Chicago or New York street corner is delish, but can pack almost a day’s worth of calories {approx. 1150 cals}. Rocco’s guilt-free version has just around 290 calories.

Here is what you need:

Turkey or chicken sausages {I used TJ’s chicken sausages ~ sweet Italian pepper}

Whole wheat hot dog buns {I used TJ’s honey wheat hot dog buns}

7 cloves garlic, thinly sliced {I used like a dozen}

1 medium onion, sliced into 1/4-inch thick strips

1 red pepper, sliced {I used the trio of peppers from TJ’s ~ red, orange and yellow}

1 sweet cubanelle pepper, sliced {I used 2 anaheim chili peppers…Google said this is an equivalent}

1/4 cup no-sodium, no-sugar-added canned chopped tomatoes

Salt

Fresh ground pepper

Here is what you do:

Heat your sausages on a grill pan {they are already fully cooked}. Set aside. Spray a pan with Pam and sauté garlic, onions and peppers for about 8 minutes. Add in tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Place the sausages into the pan with the veggies and heat for a few more minutes. Season lightly with salt & pepper and turn off heat.

Lightly toast your buns and add mustard of choice {optional} and a sausage link and then top with a heaping pile of peppers and onions. Serve immediately.

These make great football grub and you don’t have to worry about all those extra calories on game day.

Enjoy!

P.S. Are you going to watch the Chargers strike the Raiders’ to the ground tonight?

Family, Food, Fun

Off The Cuff

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I feel terrible that I have been neglecting this here blog…

I now have 6 free hours, five days a week and I can’t sit down to write a post or do any post-worthy projects!

So, I am just going to throw some thoughts and stuff out there with what we’ve been up to over the past week ~ just off the cuff.

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I can’t stop volunteering…first soccer coach, then yearbook layout, then assistant for PTA gala dinner, co-class momming it for Elliott’s room and picture taker/historian for Holden’s class! No wonder I don’t have time to blog.

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Loving these…

{ginger is almost up there with my love for coconut and reminds me so much of Fall}

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Fall NEEDS to hurry up and get here so I can make these…

Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookie Bars

{via}

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I think I’m turning Japanese. I am in LOVE with the bento box!

After posting this, I was inspired to make lunches more fun {for both me and the kids!} so I set out to find some inexpensive bento boxes. First stop was TJ Maxx and I found these…

$5.99 and BPA Free! Win. Win.

Here are a few of the lunches I’ve packed…

{homemade Uncrustable, trail mix, fishes in a cute cupcake liner and fruit snack for dessert}

{Uncrustable, string cheese, leftover mac n cheese and fruit snack for dessert}

{bean & cheese burrito with salsa dipper, raisins, dried snap peas and granola bar for morning snack}

It has been so fun to pick little bits of this and that to fill their boxes with. If I send them to school with little finger foods, I am OK with that since a lot of times Holden will have a sandwich or some mac n cheese and fruit when he gets home. From what I understand, they don’t have a lot of time to eat, so quick little snacks and mini bites are perfect.

From time to time I will post some new bento ideas on my Instagram feed ~ please follow me {@aaspiras} if you, too, are at a loss for how to mix up your kiddos’ lunches! I can say that, for right now, I am excited to fill these two boxes every evening/morning and I hope it keeps up…we still have a long year ahead of us.

This afternoon I baked some mini banana muffins that I will throw in the freezer and stick in their lunches from time to time. Elliott has requested pumpkin muffins so I will certainly throw those into the rotation, too!

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Today is my mama’s birthday! We took her to Legoland over Labor Day weekend…

The happiest of birthdays to you, Mom!

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And while we were having lunch at Legoland, Jay was checking FB and noticed that his cousin from Nor Cal was there too, so he sent her a note and we met up with them ~ hadn’t seen them in 4 years!

{Holden & Elliott with Cara & Zach}

So so great to see you, Gia, Danny and kids! XO

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Tonight we’re trying out a new healthy take on Italian sausage with peppers and onions…can’t wait. Under 300 calories! They look de-lish and I will be sure and share the recipe.

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Hope you had a nice & relaxing or fun & hectic Labor Day Weekend!

Back to the grind…..

Food

{Clean Out Your Fridge} Frittata Friday

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We did another backyard clambake last weekend.

Apparently we thought we were feeding an army because we had TONS leftover.

{note to self: next time only buy ONE package of andouille sausage}

I was in a pinch for dinner one night this week so I threw together a quick frittata using stuff that needed to be eaten up….

4 eggs that didn’t make the cut to be boiled and dyed for Easter

Several pieces of TJ’s chicken andouille leftover from the clambake

1/3 container of crumbled goat cheese

Enter andouille sausage and goat cheese baked frittata…

Jay even raved about it.

I love quiches, but can certainly do without the crust. This would make a great quiche, too though.

The addition of caramelized onions would be nice, as well.

The great thing about frittatas is that you can literally add just about any combination of meat, veggie and cheese. They are easy to make for two people or twenty people. You can make them vegetarian or super manly with lots of meat. {Note: the meat needs to be fully cooked and the veggies sauteed, grilled or at least blanched before adding them to the egg mixture}

I just whisked together the 4 eggs with 2/3 cup milk {I literally used a combination of half & half, whole and skim ~ again, we’re cleaning out the fridge} and some salt & pepper. To make it lower in fat and cholesterol, simply use 8 egg whites {not sure how it would turn out with all skim or lowfat milk, but I’m sure it would be fine}.

Pour the egg mixture into your lightly greased, oven safe pan and bake at 350* for about 25-30 minutes or until eggs have set.

Cut into wedges and serve with a green salad or fruit.

{Or with leftover red potatoes from your clam bake!}

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Happy Friday!

The weekend is here.